1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to emergency medical identification devices and more particularly to a system and method for quickly obtaining a person's medical information using a QR code on a wristband or other worn object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well-known in the art for people to wear wrist bands containing medical information. For example, diabetics have worn bands or carried tags to notify of their illness since there is a certain probability that the diabetic might be found unconscious. For years, patient identification has been placed on a bracelet or wrist-band known as a MEDICALERT bracelet or pendent. This is well known to ER and first-responder personnel, and it is one of the first things they look for. However, a MEDICALERT device usually only provides a telephone number that can be called for the patient's medical information.
U.S. published application 2011/0093296 describes a device that resembles a wristwatch that can store and instantly display complete medical information about a patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,856 teaches medical information being on a card held in a compartment of a watch or wrist-strap.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,742 teaches a medical identification bracelet that has electronic circuitry to display detailed patient medical information.
U.S. published application no. 2003/0016122 teaches an RFID tag worn by a person that transmit coded information allowing access to medical information.
The United States Dept. of Health and Human Services is calling for national coordination for health information technology. The government is proposing electronic wrist-bands that can contain information on over 125 chronic medical conditions.
The problem with electronic wrist-bands or other electronic devices is that they require periodic battery replacement or charging, are subject to damage from blows or shocks, and will usually not function after being placed in water. It would be advantageous to have a wrist-band that did NOT contain any electronics, but could harness the power of the modern electronic/telecommunications world, especially the cellular telephone or smartphone, to immediately retrieve critical medical information by first responders and ER teams.
A QR code (Quick Response Code) is well-known and heavily used today. A QR code is a small square coded patch (see FIG. 2) resembling a 2-dimensional bar code (but different) that is designed to be viewed by the camera or image sensor in a cellular smartphone, pad or other portable device. Typically, the QR code simply returns a URL that the user's browser then moves to. Alternatively, QR codes can be used to initiate the downloading of applications (Apps.).
[Unlike the older bar codes that were designed to be mechanically scanned by a narrow beam of light, the QR code is detected as a 2-dimensional digital image by a semiconductor image sensor and is then digitally analyzed by a programmed processor. The processor locates three distinctive squares at the corners of the image, normalizes image size, orientation, and angle of viewing with the aid of a smaller square near the fourth corner. The small dots are then converted to binary numbers and validity checked with an error-correcting code.] (From Wikipedia.com).
Since most first responders and ER personnel carry cellular telephones, and especially smartphones, and because almost every future cellular telephone will be able to read a QR code, it would be very advantageous to combine the quick access and response of a QR code with a medical bracelet or wrist-band, or any other worn item that can hold a QR code.